The End of Government As We Know It?
Trump’s takeover of the GOP doesn’t bode well for future checks & balances

Here’s a hunch: Trump will not debate Biden.
Why should he?
Why hasn’t the mainstream media asked him such an obvious question? Maybe they don’t want to give him any ideas, since they created the monster, who’s good for ratings.
Before the primaries even started, Trump easily eliminated a large GOP field without having to face his challengers, although at least Nikki Haley made it closer in New Hampshire and vows to stay in it.
But Haley still lost by 11%, and obtained only 60% support from independents, while 75% of Republicans. Her only hope to become the nominee is for him not to be around before the GOP convention in Milwaukee July 15–18, 2024 (either for health reasons or death). It’s not likely he’ll get convicted or imprisoned before then unless the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) chimes in that the 14th Amendment prevents him from running.

The federal government’s prosecution needs five justices to see it at that way. At best, SCOTUS hopefully will rule in a separate case on whether Trump can be on the national presidential election on the Nov. 5 ballot of Colorado and Maine.
Trump’s various criminal trials regarding his presidential stint may not even be underway, let alone concluded, by the two parties’ conventions this summer.
Twice impeached made no difference
Couldn’t anyone in Biden’s Justice Department read a calendar? They’re all lawyers. Delay, delay, delay is an effective legal strategy.
Why did Merrick Garland wait so long to appoint Jack Smith to prosecute Trump for inciting January 6th?

Most likely, it was because the administration counted on the coming U.S. House of Representatives investigation, but it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out they didn’t have enough Republican votes to swing to remove Trump from office before Biden was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2021.
Nothing compels Trump to debate, not to mention he’s a lousy debater, and can only resort to insults. Multiple court appearances for his various appeals will continue to drag things out to his advantage. There is no upside for him to debate. It worked before, it will work again; his supporters don’t care.
During Trump’s first impeachment over squeezing Ukrainian President Zelenskyy into providing financial aid as a quid pro quo for help in investigating Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, Trump narrowly escaped removal from office along party lines. Trump was acquitted in Feb. 2020 by the Senate’s Republican majority 52–48 on abuse of power and 53–47 on obstruction of Congress.
Trump’s second impeachment — connected to inciting the January 6th insurrection on the Capitol — fell 10 Republican Senate votes short of the two-thirds majority needed for conviction, which would have removed him from office in the waning days of his term.
Congressional deadlock remains
Has anything changed since then? Well, yes, the parties have swapped control of each legislative body, but the Democrats’ slim margin is meaningless, as is the Republicans’ six-seat House advantage.
Trump’s tight grip on the MAGAs is obvious. They love him for thumbing his nose at protocol or laws.
Former vice president Mike Pence, Trump’s enabler for four years except when it really mattered, threw in the towel before even the Iowa caucus. Pence never received more than 4% support. As much as I despise Pence’s politics, he did prevent democracy from being shattered on January 6th, by not agreeing to be hoisted away in a car, waiting out until the wee hours of the night for the certification of the 2020 election.
Pence did the right thing, much to the umbrage of MAGAs who drank Trump’s kool-aid. They were looking to hang him and kill Nancy Pelosi. If Congressional lawmakers didn’t flee, they would have ended up in Rotunda while the vote was going on more than five people would have died, and I’m sure some of them would have been legislators, perhaps even Republicans. Do you think the savages would have been able to distinguish anyone other than the likes of AOC or MTG?
Meanwhile, his non-political cases have better traction. Trump has been already found guilty of the sexual assault of writer E. Jean Carroll, who won initially $5 million in the U.S. District Court and then another $83.3 million jury verdict for defamation. But even bigger stakes are the fraud case in the New York State Supreme Court, in which the presiding judge already found Trump and his real estate company guilty of deceiving banks and insurers of overvaluing his assets, and ordered some Trump companies to be dissolved, as well as not be allowed to do business in the state. The state attorney general is seeking damages of $370 million.
Trump admitted he crossed the line

Stumping in New Hampshire before the primary, Trump telegraphed his belief he should receive total immunity for his actions as president even if he “crossed the line.”
Trump’s immunity assertion is his defense against any and all past and future prosecutions, as well as how his second administration would operate. But which action is Trump talking about that crossed the line? Inciting a riot, taking classified documents, asserting pressure on Georgia to change the vote, etc.?
Which action was Trump talking about that crossed the line? Inciting a riot, taking classified documents, asserting pressure on Georgia to change the vote, etc.?
In any case, his immunity assertion is his defense against any and all past and future prosecutions, as well as how his second administration would operate.
While I’m asking questions, why did Fani Willis wait until Aug 14, 2023, to indict Trump? The recording became public three days after Trump’s Jan. 2, 2021 call to the Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger “to find 12,000 votes” so he could win the state’s electoral votes, which already had been awarded to Biden, making him the president-elect.
True, Willis’s investigation led to the successful prosecution of those around Trump, winning various convictions, and getting defendants to “flip” against their former boss. But obviously, this case will be appealed to SCOTUS as well.
Teflon Don?

Trump entered the White House owning a hotel not far away and expected foreign dignitaries to stay there.
Doesn’t the U.S. Constitution’s Emoluments Clause prohibit such conflicts of interest prevent elected officials from profiting from their office? Of course, it does. But he got away with it.
Why doesn’t anyone ask him the most obvious question?
If Trump really won the 2020 election—as he still insists—then why did he leave the White House and let the helicopter hoist him and Melania away?
He could have put to the test his 2016 campaign theory that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue — no matter who the target — and not lose any political support. The sad truth is he might have been right.
So it comes down to the heavily conservative-tilted Supreme Court to thwart the person who most of his former cabinet and inner circle now admits is unfit to hold the office. Yet Republican voters and legislators largely don’t care.
Will SCOTUS have the courage to even risk their own existence in a second Trump kingdom because consolidating executive branch power is what he wants and apparently the Republican Party controlling Congress is willing to give it to him. If he remains on the ticket and defeats Biden, say goodbye to the American branches of government at the top of the page.
Back to my presumption that Trump will not debate Biden. Nothing compels him to do so, not to mention he’s a lousy debater, and can only resort to insults. Multiple court appearances for his various appeals will continue to drag things out to his advantage. There is no upside for him to debate. It worked before, it will work again, and apparently, his supporters will vote for him anyway.